Report: Benghazi Security Chief Killed by Gunmen

(CNN) - Unknown gunmen have assassinated the temporary security director for the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi in the latest violence to rock the city, state media reported Wednesday.

Col. Faraj al-Dursi was shot dead by three unidentified men in a civilian car on Tuesday night, security officials in the city said, according to Libyan state news agency LANA.

Al-Dursi was outside his home in the city's al-Saberi neighborhood when the attack occurred, the news agency cites Lt. Saraj al-Shaikhi of the Benghazi security directorate as saying.

The gunmen fled the scene, al-Shaikhi said, and al-Dursi died on his way to the Benghazi medical center.

An investigation is under way to find those responsible.

The violence comes about two months after the city was shaken by an attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi in which four Americans died, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens.

The attack became a political hot button during a presidential election year and raised questions regarding issues such as security at the compound and the Obama administration's initial description of the events.

David Petraeus, who recently resigned as director of the CIA, said in closed-door congressional briefings on Friday that the attack was planned and launched by terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda, according to lawmakers and those who attended.

A diplomatic cable sent by Stevens from Benghazi hours before the attack in which he died was largely devoted to the rising security threats in and around the city.